The Groundtruth from a combat veteran, backed up by independent research and historical study. Information beneficial to the Troops. And a touch of objective politics, as it relates to the subjects at hand.

This site is unabashedly Pro-American and Pro-Military however none of the views expressed here are to be considered as endorsed, proposed, or supported by the Department of Defense or any other Agency, government, public, or private. http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/

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SSgt Workman is featured in the Hall of Heroes and a book review on this from Marine Till Death that read it as it was written: http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2008/12/shadow-of-the-sword-by-jeremiah-workman-w-john-bruning.html

http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2008/12/ssgt-jeremiah-workman-navy-cross-usmc-iraq-marion-oh.html and links to prior articles.

861 posts from August 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

08.30.2010 CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – With the threat of the improvised explosive device in Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. and coalition forces had to adapt to a new battlefield.

The electronic warfare branch, which was only recently made an official branch in the U.S. Army, answered the call to stem the threat of a major killer of American troops in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Mathew Williamson, an EW noncommissioned officer from Roseville, Calif., serving with the 1st Infantry Division, said he likes serving in a capacity that does so much for his fellow service members, such as the electronic protection counter radio-controlled electronic warfare systems.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told an American veterans' group Tuesday it is not time to celebrate victory in Iraq, even though the U.S. combat mission is formally ending. Gates spoke Tuesday to the annual meeting of the American Legion in the midwestern U.S. city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Secretary Gates called Wednesday's formal handover in Baghdad the moment both countries have been working for and hoping for, a moment he said was "made possible by the dramatic security gains of the last three-and-a-half years."

He said attacks are at their lowest levels since the beginning of the war in 2003, in spite of the recent series of incidents. He also noted that U.S. forces have not had to call in an air strike anywhere in Iraq for more than six months, and he said the remnants of al-Qaida's Iraqi organization have been cut off from its commanders abroad.

Israeli officials say four Israelis have been killed after gunmen fired on their car in the West Bank.

The attack took place in the early evening Tuesday near the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, not far from the flashpoint city of Hebron. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel's national rescue service said the victims were two men and two women. One of the women was reported to be pregnant.

08.30.2010 ZABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces with support from their coalition counterparts recently brought the gift of good health to the people of the Maruf District.

For the first time in two years, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan sponsored a Combined Medical Engagment at the Maruf District Center in the Kandahar province. The CME provided basic health care to the local citizens.

Tell me where it Hurts: A medic from the 4th Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment examines a little girl during the medical clinic in Masruf. Photo by Sgt. Gerald Wilson

ISF and U.S. advisors searched several buildings for a suspected AQI leader allegedly responsible for extorting money from oil-related contractors and oil transportation workers in order to fund terrorist operations against the ISF and the Iraqi public.

08.30.2010 PATIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Macedonian Rangers at Forward Operating Base Sharana recently celebrated their 18th birthday, and U.S. Soldiers from Task Force Iron Rakkasan were there to join them for the event.

The two forces have worked together for several months now and will be going their separate ways soon. They took the opportunity to not only celebrate the birthday, but to also show their mutual respect and appreciation.

Lt. Col. David Fivecoat, Battalion Commander of the 187 Infantry out of Delaware, Ohio presents Capt. Borche Turturov, commander of the Macedonia Army rangers from Skopje, Macedonia with an award of appreciation during a celebration of the Macedonia Army's 18th birthday on COP Shar Hawza on Aug. 18, Paktika province, Afghanistan. This event was coordinated by Task Force Iron Rakkasans on FOB Sharana. Photo by Spc. Lorenzo Ware

Two Men Arrested in Amsterdam on Suspicion of Planning Terror Attack

VOA Lauren Comiteau | Amsterdam 31 August 2010

Two men flying from the United States to Holland are being questioned by Dutch investigators on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack. The men were flying from Chicago to Amsterdam when American officials found cell phones, knives and watches in one of their suitcases.

Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi were arrested at Amsterdam's Schipol airport, Monday. The men, thought to be of Yemeni origin, are being held for questioning at the request of American authorities.

The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of the dangers inherent in travel to Iraq and recommends against all but essential travel to the country given the fluid security situation. Despite improvements in the security environment relative to prior years, Iraq remains dangerous and unpredictable. Foreign nationals and their facilities, as well as Government of Iraq officials and buildings continue to be targeted. Such attacks can occur at any time. Kidnappings still occur, with the most recent kidnapping of a U.S. citizen occurring in January 2010. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs), and mines are placed on roads, concealed in plastic bags, boxes, soda cans, dead animals, and in other places to blend with the road. Suicide attacks continue to occur. Grenades and explosives have been thrown into vehicles from overpasses and placed on vehicles at intersections, particularly in crowded areas. Rockets and mortars have been fired at hotels and at the International Zone, and vehicle-borne IEDs have been used against targets throughout the country. U.S. Government personnel are prohibited from traveling to certain areas of the country due to prevailing security conditions. When traveling outside the International Zone and outside secure facilities, U.S. Government personnel are required to be escorted by a personal security detail at all times. The Embassy has also directed U.S. Government personnel traveling within the International Zone to be accompanied by at least one other person and to carry a radio or cell phone.

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

08.30.2010 CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq— Since arriving here in May, soldiers with the 632nd Maintenance Company, 110th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), have completed hundreds of maintenance work orders and performed duties ranging from guarding entry control points, to staffing the dining facility. Now they are preparing for a new mission: convoy operations.

During the months of July and August, they have been brushing up on their convoy skills. As Operation Iraqi Freedom comes to a close and Operation New Dawn begins, soldiers with the 632nd Maint. Company must be prepared to take on whatever is thrown their way, including the missions of units that are exiting theater.

08.30.2010 KABUL, Afghanistan - A joint Afghan and International Security Assistance Force patrol came under small-arms fire from multiple firing points, one of which was a mosque, in the Nad 'Ali District of Helmand province Aug. 30.

Acting in self-defense, Afghan and coalition forces returned fire at the insurgents, causing them to flee the mosque. The combined force made all efforts to avoid damaging the mosque. Following the incident, the force determined a window frame in the mosque received minor damage.

The last combat brigade has left Iraq and while they passed through Contingency Operating Base Adder during the third week of August, the base was also a focal point for the logistical drawdown as there will only be 50,000 service members and the equipment needed to sustain those remaining after Sept. 1.

The convoy staging area and the retrograde property assistance teams yard were full of trucks and equipment destined for Kuwait to be retrograded (resubmitted) back into the Army’s supply system and redistributed elsewhere in preparation for Operation New Dawn.

“We are probably a week ahead of schedule,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Corson, commander of the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Maryville, Mo., native. “Our role in the drawdown is to

08.30.2010 KABUL, Afghanistan - The commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command has ordered an investigation into the allegations of civilian casualties in Baghlan province during an operation, Aug. 22.

The investigation was ordered based on information contained in the joint initial assessment team's report of the operation.

The London-hosted Paralympic games for disabled athletes are two years away and Great Britain has begun to search for talent and bring its athletes together at a new training center in the Southwestern city of Bath.

Louise Hunt has been in a wheelchair since birth, and at 19 has been playing tennis half her life. Her big dream is to make Great Britain's Paralympic team. "I'm hoping to qualify with a cleaned ranking, so that means I'm in the top 24 in the world," she said.

In Rashid, ISF and U.S. advisors searched a building for a suspected JAM member, who allegedly has close ties to JAM senior leadership and is responsible for acquiring funds for the terrorist organization.

A mortar attack on the presidential palace in the Somali capital has killed at least four African Union peacekeepers and critically wounded nine others. For the past week, the peacekeeping force, protecting the country's U.N.-backed government in Mogadishu, has been battling a new round of attacks by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants.

Failed attack

According to the spokesman of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, Barigye Ba-Hoku, a mortar round fired from an al-Shabab position near the presidential palace exploded near a contingent of Ugandan peacekeepers guarding the palace compound, also known as Villa Somalia.

Ba-Hoku called the mortar strike a "lucky hit" for the al-Qaida-linked militants, who are battling to overthrow Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government and to force the withdrawal of the peacekeeping force.

08.29.2010 KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - In few countries do women face as many challenges as they do in Afghanistan—a country which not only holds the record for the worst place to be a mother, according to Save the Children’s “State of the World’s Mothers Report 2010,” but is also home to the fundamentalist Taliban, one of the world’s most repressive anti-women’s rights regimes.

Afghan culture places many restrictions on the medical treatment of women by male providers. Additionally, women fear the repercussions that come with breaking the Taliban’s extremist version of Islamic law. Women are not allowed to hold jobs, touch or medically treat a man. They’re not allowed to leave their homes without the escort of a man under the extremist laws of the Taliban regime.

However, there is a glimmer of hope. In southern Afghanistan, one woman is making a difference not only for herself but for the health of the people of her country by providing medical treatment to the sick. As a medical assistant, she treats men, women and children in a clinic in a region where the Taliban hold much influence. Her name is not mentioned for her protection.

8/27/2010 - GENEVA, Switzerland (AFNS) -- A team of internationally renowned physicists led by Nobel laureate Dr. Sam Ting, specially requested the Air Force's largest, newly remodeled airlifter to transport the 7.5-ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer from the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Aug 26.

A C-5M Super Galaxy crew flew the device on its last terrestrial journey before traveling on the final space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

"I'm very grateful the U.S. Air Force came to help us," Dr. Ting said. The particle detector is so large that, without the C-5, it would have required a certain level of disassembly for its flight, he said.

Two U.S.-based civil liberties groups are suing President Barack Obama, the director of the CIA, and the federal government to stop them from carrying out a “targeted killing” they say is unconstitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights said Monday it is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and un-American” to authorize the killing of U.S. citizens without a trial.

08.29.2010 CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Time became something of a commodity for Marines and sailors with 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit as they prepared to deploy a month early aboard the ships of Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group.

The ships left the docks at Naval Station Norfolk this week responding to an order by the Secretary of Defense to depart before the end of the month. They are bringing heavy- and medium-lift aircraft and other assets to support flood relief efforts in Pakistan. This Navy and Marine Corps team is expected to arrive in the vicinity of Pakistan in late September.

08.29.2010 CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Allawadin, a 24-year-old Afghan police recruit is lacking one very important feature necessary to being a cop here. Mainly, he doesn’t have a trigger finger.

“According to the rules of the military, I shouldn’t be a policeman because I lost my finger, especially my trigger finger, but I will be one until I die,” Allawadin said.

Allawadin, a police recruit at the Joint Security Academy Southwest, Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, is willing to give up everything to fight for his country. Losing his index finger during a fire-fight with the Taliban didn’t faze his commitment to his family and community.

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device Aug. 27 in Paktiya, Afghanistan.

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

The United States on Tuesday, August 31 at a formal ceremony in Baghdad will end its combat mission in Iraq and complete the U.S. military's transition to an advisory and training role in support of Iraqi forces. That effort is to continue until the end of next year, but there are significant questions about what happens after that.

U.S. combat units recently rolled out of Iraq, bringing the number of U.S. forces below 50,000. The remaining troops are what the military calls advise and assist brigades. Their primary mission -- to help Iraqi forces become more capable of providing sophisticated security.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Staff Sgt. James R. Ide, 32, of Festus, Mo., died Aug. 29 at Hyderabad, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 230th Military Police Company, 95th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Sembach, Germany.

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

"He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

With the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq complete, and a formal handover of command to Iraqi forces days away, many Iraqi's fear for their future. The government's inability to form a ruling coalition since March and the recent wave of bombings across the country have put the country in a precarious situation.

Photo: VOA Photo - J. Swicord Samira Majeed and Feraas Hussein, a husband and wife living with their children in a mixed neighborhood in Baghdad.

We sat down with a Iraqi family in Baghdad who offered to share iftar with us, the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. In the spirit of the holy holidays, they graciously shared their hopes and fears for the country with us.

Sudan’s foreign ministry says Wagner is in the town of Nyala, at the home of the governor of South Darfur state. The French news agency AFP quotes a ministry spokesman as saying no ransom was paid for her release.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Afghan soldiers build warrior skill set, add mortars to repertoire

08.29.2010 RANGE JUAREZ, Afghanistan — The U.S. Marine and the Afghan soldier may speak different languages, but as 60 mm high-explosive mortar rounds sailed through air eventually reaching their fiery conclusion a few hundred meters away, the men reacted the same way — with awe and motivation, brothers in a warrior culture.

Marines and Afghan soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s Combined Action Company, trained with mortars at Range Juarez, Afghanistan, during a mission rehearsal Aug. 28.The company is comprised of Marines and sailors from 3/3’s Lima and Headquarters Companies, and Afghan soldiers from 1st Kandak, 1st Brigade, 215th Corps. The men train and conduct combat operations alongside one another.

The imam behind a proposal to build an Islamic center near the site of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks says opposition to the project is linked to upcoming U.S. elections.

The comments by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf were published Monday in the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National. Rauf is on a tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department to discuss Muslim life in the United States and promote religious tolerance.

Rauf said there is no doubt that election season has had a major impact upon the nature of the discourse about the Islamic center. The U.S. will hold congressional elections in November.

The imam told the paper that a small minority is leading the opposition to the center.

08.28.2010 A group responsible for oversight of Joint Expeditionary Tasking Airmen in Iraq has joined the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.

The 732nd Air Expeditionary Group, previously assigned to Balad Air Base, Iraq, began moving its headquarters here Aug. 21 as part of the responsible drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Col. Dave Marttala, 732nd AEG commander. The move, which also included the group's intelligence and force support squadrons, is now complete.

Afghan and coalition forces conducted operations in Paktiya province last night while in pursuit of a Taliban commander for coordinating and conducting indirect fire and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

The commander, Naman, also coordinated the movement of improvised explosive devices, ammunition, supplies and fighters. He was killed in the operation, along with seven other insurgents.

As the security force approached the targeted compounds west of Kowti Sheyl

In just over two weeks on the ground in Pakistan the combined efforts of the Marines and sailors in Task Force Ghazi have resulted in 1,084,158 lbs of supplies delivered to flood victims and 4,758 evacuees relocated.

“It was slow going at first because of the weather, but I think we have really hit our stride now,” said Cmdr. Sara “Nitro” Santoski, officer in charge of HM-15 Detachment 2. If the weather continues to cooperate I believe it won’t be much longer before we will have doubled our numbers,” explained the 37-year-old native Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

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Ace Of Spades: Why Language MattersIn this article, Ace of Spades demonstrates how the writing style of "journalists" and other writers is purposely used to influence the electorate. He explains this far better than I have been able to do, but this is the foundation of why I could no longer be silent.